Do I look stupid? Well, perhaps a bit. Maybe after a haircut things will improve. Mind you, Einstein had long hair. But Captain Picard was a slaphead. Confusing.

Anyhoo, some people on Ebay must think I was born yesterday. I love Ebay for buying stuff. From wing mirrors to cameras, I've bought lots of items. However, I've also tried to sell things. And it often ends in tears. I put a lot up last week (part of my PS3 sinking fund) and as usual all the bidding action was in the last two minutes. The price was reasonable, not quite what I was hoping for, but a goodly chunk of that shiny black console that I seem to have an irrational desire for.

Then the buyer revealed that he lived in Italy. Would I mind shipping the item there? Yes I would. Very much. A member with zero feedback who has bid on an item which I had said was only for delivery to the UK. So we switch to the next bidder down. Who reveals that his PayPal account has been disabled. Would I mind a cheque or perhaps a bank transfer? Hmm. Let me think about that for a nanosecond. Yes I would. Since the rest of the bids were below the reserve price (which I thought was very low anyway) that was the end of that. Blarst.

robmiles.com

Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.